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ACS News Service Weekly PressPac: Wed Nov 10 15:42:03 EST 2010

News Items in This Edition

Manufacturer recalls of toys, promotional drinking glasses, and other children’s products constitute an ongoing “toxic toys crisis” that requires banning potentially harmful ingredients in these products and other changes in policy and practices. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal…

Snap an image of friends in front of a window curtain and the camera captures the people - and invisible blood stains splattered on the curtain during a murder. Sound unlikely? Chemists from the University of South Carolina are reporting development of a camera with that ability to see the invisible, and more. Called multimode imaging in the thermal infrared, the new technology could find…

Scientists are reporting development of a long-sought method with the potential for getting medication through a biological barrier that surrounds the brain, where it may limit the brain damage caused by stroke. Their approach for sneaking the nerve-protective drug erythropoietin into the brain is medicine’s version of the Trojan Horse ploy straight out of ancient Greek legend. It also…

Experiments with an artificial stomach suggest that a popular lemon-lime soft drink could play an unexpected role in improving the effectiveness of an oral anticancer drug. The experiments produced evidence that patients will absorb more of the unnamed drug, tested in Phase I in clinical trials, when taken with “flat” or degassed Sprite. The study appears in ACS’ Molecular…

The seeds that you plant in your backyard garden next spring — and farmers sow in their fields — may have a guardian angel that helps them sprout, stay healthy, and grow to yield bountiful harvests. It’s a thin coating of chemicals termed a “seed treatment” that can encourage seeds to germinate earlier in the season, resist insects and diseases, and convey other advantages. These…

Journalists’ Resources

Must-reads from C&EN: Straight Story on Hair Straighteners Modern products to banish ringlets and frizz depend on chemistry and this edition of C&EN’s popular What’s That Stuff feature gives readers the straight story. For the full text, go to hair style.

ACS Pressroom Blog The ACS Office of Public Affairs’ (OPA) pressroom blog highlights research from ACS’ 38 peer-reviewed journals and National Meetings.

Bytesize Science blog Educators and kids, put on your thinking caps: The American Chemical Society has a blog for Bytesize Science, a science podcast for kids of all ages.

ACS satellite pressroom: Daily news blasts on Twitter The satellite press room has become one of the most popular science news sites on Twitter. To get our news blasts and updates, create a free account at https://twitter.com/signup. Then visit http://twitter.com/ACSpressroom and click the ‘join’ button beneath the press room logo.

Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Web site on everyday chemicals Whether you want to learn more about caffeine, benzoyl peroxide (acne treatment), sodium chloride (table salt), or some other familiar chemical, CAS Common Chemistry can help. The new Web site provides non-chemists and others with useful information about everyday chemicals by searching either a chemical name or a corresponding CAS Registry Number. The site includes about 7,800 chemicals of general interest as well as all 118 elements from the Periodic Table, providing alternative names, molecular structures, a Wikipedia link, and other information.

Science Connections from CAS CAS - Science Connections is a series of articles that showcases the value of CAS databases in light of important general-interest science and technology news. Topics range from fruit flies to Nobel Prize winners, with the CAS - Science Connections series pointing to CAS databases for a more complete understanding of the latest news.

The Laser’s 50th From DVD players to eye surgery, the laser stands as one of the greatest inventions of modern times — one that truly revolutionized everyday life. Laserfest is a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the laser, which was first demonstrated in 1960.

Videos

The American Chemical Society encourages news organizations, museums, educational organizations, and other web sites to embed links to these videos.

Prized Science video focuses on “green gasoline” The latest episode in the American Chemical Society’s new video series, Prized Science: How the Science Behind ACS Awards Impacts Your Life, is on “green gasoline.” That’s gas made from corn, cornstalks, sugarcane, and other crops. It also is fuel made in more environmentally friendly ways. The previous episode focused on the possibility that life on Mars seeded life on Earth. Both are available without charge at the Prized Science website, YouTube, iTunes and on DVD. Green Gasoline features research of Vincent D’Amico, Emiel van Broekhoven, Ph.D., and Juha Jakkula, winners of the 2010 ACS Award for Affordable Green Chemistry. They developed a process to make gasoline in a more environmentally-friendly way. ACS encourages educators, schools, museums, science centers, news organizations, and others to embed links to Prized Science on their websites. The Chemistry of Sourdough Bread

Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions This special series of ACS podcasts focuses on some of the 21st Century’s most daunting challenges, and how chemists and other scientists are finding solutions. Subscribe at iTunes or listen and access other resources at the ACS web site www.acs.org/GlobalChallenges.

SciFinder® Podcasts Interested in healthful plant phytochemicals, nanotechnology, or green chemistry? Check out the SciFinder series of podcasts, which explore a vast array of current interest topics and new discoveries in the 21st century. The SciFinder podcasts are available in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Portuguese.

Note to Journalists and Other Viewers

This is the latest American Chemical Society (ACS) Office of Public Affairs Weekly PressPac with news from ACS’ 38 peer-reviewed journals and Chemical & Engineering News.

This information is intended for your personal use in news gathering and reporting and should not be distributed to others. Anyone using advance ACS Office of Public Affairs Weekly PressPac information for stocks or securities dealing may be guilty of insider trading under the federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Please cite the individual journal, or the American Chemical Society, as the source of this information.

The American Chemical Society is a non-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.